This invention pertains to the field of holding, shipping, displaying and dispensing for sale in retail stores insect screen for use by individuals in repairing screen doors, screen windows and the like.
In the past such screen has been sold principally in two ways. One method of sale of the screen has been as pre-cut lengths about six feet long, rolled and tied into two-inch diameter cylinders as wide as the width of the screen, which typically is 24 to 48 inches.
Alternatively, the screen has been sold on large rolls with hollow centers containing for example about 640 feet of screen. The rolls may be displayed on pipes passed down their centers. The pipes act as axles on which the rolls turn and from which the screen may be unrolled and cut to desired lengths as needed.
The pre-cut rolls of short lengths involve obvious problems of waste, added expense in cutting and tying individually, and added bulk and delicacy, with consequent shipping, handling and displaying difficulties and expense. The large rolls designed for display on racks made of pipe overcome some of these problems but create other problems of their own. A major one is their tendency to unroll. Insect screen, particularly when made of aluminum, is stiff and tends to unroll of its own accord onto the floor when placed on a pipe axle. Ties or other means may be used to reduce this tendency, but they are bothersome, tend to be lost or not replaced, and hence are not entirely satisfactory. Moreover, such rolls are large and heavy; once one of them is started turning during removal of a short piece, its moment of inertia makes it keep unrolling beyond the desired amount. If one is not careful, excessive amounts will unroll causing additional work and perhaps damage to the screen.
With the increase of large convenience and home-repair stores, which emphasize a large selection of goods at discount prices, sometimes devoting a relatively small fraction of their space to hardware store items, it has become more and more important that the store owner be able to display items such as insect screen in a way that the customer can serve himself, or store staff with very little training in hardware goods can sell insect screen easily. These problems are compounded by the fact that most homeowners do not purchase insect screen on a regular basis, but largely do so only once every two or three years. Ideally, therefore, systems for display of insect screen should require as little attendance by store personnel as possible and also be as simple and foolproof as possible.
The opportunity to damage the screening goods or upset the display must be minimized.
Another drawback of display systems used with large rolls of insect screen is that they may not be adapted for the display of the pre-cut rolls. It is often desirable to be able to display and sell from large rolls in the spring when usage and sales are high, and then be able to sell the small pre-cut rolls at other times. The present pipe racks do not permit that flexibility.